Archive for September, 2013

Apple’s latest and greatest mobile operating system iOS 7, is now available. From all reports, over 30% of all iOS devices were updated in just 16 hours! I’m still making the adjustment to doing things a little differently than before. I found it ironic that I needed to call on Google to find the answers I needed. For example, like how do I search in iOS 7 or kill running apps. Overall, I do like the new look and feel.

For organisations, Apple has released a range of new Mobile Device Management (MDM) features too. MaaS360 and IBM Endpoint Manager provided same day support for iOS 7 as per previous iOS releases. Since IEM leverages a cloud service to distribute updates for Windows, Mac, Linux and Unix, it can update the product itself to leverage these new services immediately.

There has been a lot of great coverage on iOS 7 MDM from experts such as Jack Madden who has explained the key features and benefits. I noticed that Apple has just updated it’s iPhone in Business web page to reflect iOS 7 too.

The key MDM features of iOS 7 are:

Open In management – Protect corporate data by controlling which apps and accounts are used to open documents and attachments

Per app VPN – Configure apps to connect to a VPN when launched

App Store License management – Companies can assign apps to their users while keeping full ownership and control over app licenses

New MDM configuration options – see below

Streamlined MDM enrolment – Devices can be automatically enrolled in MDM during activation

Enterprise Single Sign-on – Authentication can be done once to a number of applications

I haven’t yet found the ‘definitive list’ of iOS 7 MDM features, so I decided to put one together like I had for Samsung SAFE. So companies and their staff then clearly know what features can be configured and controlled with iOS 7. So here it is, if you have any omissions or corrections please let me know.

There are five new Apple iOS 7 configuration profiles:

AirPlay – Add Airplay devices and their passwords

AirPrint – Add Airprint printers

Font – adding Fonts. Maybe if you have corporate Fonts on devices?

Single Sign-On Account – Define the SSO account and Kerberos rhelm name